Memorial Day weekend is giving us a little taste of what summer has to offer in terms of vacation, and now we want more. But where to begin?
Once you get around to selecting a spot, you’ll have to go through the hassle of creating an itinerary to hit the popular sites and factor in time to scope out the local gems. Then again, you can always default to a structured, professional tour to make sure you get an experience worth your dollars … But you’d rather be caught dead than be spotted wheeling around on the sidewalk in a herd of Segways.
That’s, in part, why Jeremy Loeckler decided to start Tourmatters a year ago. The site showcases the very best tour operators available – with their actual itineraries – to ensure that you get the best experience possible, whether you want to go snorkeling off the coast South America or stalk snow leopards in the mountains of Mongolia.
Based out of WeWork, Tourmatters aims to give people the best possible information about the tour programs they are considering. Travelers can either scout out the startup’s master ranking, or customize their search by their age, accommodations, group size, price, activity level and, of course, destination.
“If you’re looking for a hotel, you can go to TripAdvisor. If you’re thinking of buying a new dishwasher, you can go to Consumer Reports. It’s interesting, the touring and travel space doesn’t really have any of those resources,” Loeckler told BostInno.
Loeckler knows the $13 billion tour industry inside and out. Prior to breaking ground on Tourmatters, he worked at Grand Circle Corporation, one of the largest tour operators in the world, which also just so happens to be based in Fort Point.
After about eight years at Grand Circle, the entrepreneuring developer decided to branch out on his own, with the mission of starting a site dedicated to bringing “editorial integrity to tour reviews,” he said.
Not only does Tourmatters generate its own honest reviews of various tour operators’ programming around the world, but it also crowdsources actual travelers’ takes on the day-to-day experience, tour guides and more.
A lot of the grunt work is done behind the scenes, however. Loeckler, along with another developer, have created an algorithm that scours the Internet and pulls tour itineraries to create an extensive library of programming that can be found all in one place.
And these aren’t your simple seven-day river cruise tours along the Seine in Paris.
“It’s been pretty surprising, we’ve found some spots that are only in very remote tours or briefly mentioned in travel guides,” Loeckler said. Among the items on these itineraries are stalking snow leopard in Mongolia’s Yamaat Valley, kayaking the the Zhupanova Delta in eastern Russia, walking Avellanas Beach in Costa Rica, and exploring the Pancake Rocks of New Zealand.
Don’t know what any of these activities are? Check out Tourmatters and start packing your bags.
